Sgraffito Tray

Sgraffito Tray

Sgraffito is a technique in which layers of colored slips or underglazes are applied to a piece and then different layers are scratched off to create a pattern or picture or reveal a contrast in color underneath. With this piece we rolled out a slab of clay, layed it over top a foam tray and cut off the excess. Then I coated the top of mine with red underglaze. After the underlgaze dried I carved away all the parts of the tray I didn't want to be red. Finally I waxed the bottom of the clay tray and dipped it into a bucket of glaze for it to be later fired in the glaze kiln. The finished product wasn't exactly what I had hoped it would be. I'm not very fond of the contrast in color between the white and red glaze. I also don't like how streaky the red underglaze turned out. If I were to do this project again I would keep more red in the picture and put a thicker coat of underglaze on top. Maybe the picture I chose to carve was a little too complex but I think the concept of this piece is very very cool and I would love to do another tray. This project was a good reminder of how including relief can create so much more dimension allow creativity to transpire in your piece.

Empty Bowl Project

 Bowls for Empty Bowl Project

The first bowl I did was my fabric bowl. It turns out working with fabric and glue is harder than I anticipated. I had trouble getting all of the pieces of fabric to stick to each other. It is not my favorite piece but it turned out better than I expected. This is the bowl I donated for the empty bowl project.

 The clay bowls below were made on the wheel. The wheel is as hard as it looks maybe harder. Centering the bowl on the wheel and trimming them evenly were both parts I really struggled with. Although my biggest struggle was with my own finger nails. My nails made it almost impossible to shape the inside of the bowl. Glazing is something else I seem to have problems with. Almost every bowl I make chips in the glaze kiln!! Overall I am very very happy with my bowls and I love the glazes I chose.

The last bowl I did was also made of clay but I didn't use the wheel. For this one I rolled out a sheet of clay, placed it over a plastic bowl and cut off the excess. This bowl also turned out pretty good although it too chipped both times through the glaze kiln and I ended up having to go over the chipped spots with acrylic paint.

Sparkling Illustration Friday

Vessel

Vessel Piece

My piece is considered a vessel piece because the back of the fox is open and can hold a number of things. I plan to put a succulent in it's back when I am finished making it. So far my piece has been really successful. The shape of the body and head turned out better than I expected. The only problem is there's a crack between the leg and the tail but it can most likely be fixed with glaze. I was inspired to make a fox that could hold a plant because foxes are my favorite animal and I love plants.

Pit Fire

Part 1:

Pit Firing - pots are placed in a hole or pit in the ground, covered with combustible objects and then burned.

Foil Saggar- aluminum foil saggars are wrapped around the pot to contain fumes so the pot picks up the color from the fumes.

These techniques are unique because they use other materials to leave different colors and patterns on the pots.

Part 2

 I used the coil method to make a round pot. I attached the coils to the of the base of the pot and then smoothed it all out the best I could. I painted that stuff on the inside and top half of the outside leaving only the bottom portion unpainted in a wavy design. Then I covered the pot in pencil shavings, leaves, coil and salt. After it was finished being covered and wrapped in foil it was pit fired. I think this technique is cool because it uses a lot of random materials to make an unpredictable and unique outcome of colors and shapes on the pot. I would use this technique again but I would rather know what colors and patterns are going to end up on my piece so it isn't my favorite.

Form Challenge

 Form Challenge

Relief Project

Relief Project

I want to make a mountain landscape on a clay tile. There will be a total of 5 mountains, the sun, 2 clouds and a border on the tile. I will remove some the sky in the background but leave the clouds and sun. The clouds will be built up over the border and so will the mountains. The closer the mountain the more built up it will be. 

Part 2

Looking at my original plan my piece was pretty successful. The mountains layered well like I planned and the sun and clouds pop out well. Also the colors I chose compliment each other well and the glazed mountains, cloud and sun look good against the arcryllic sky. Next time I would make the mountains have more dimension and I would shape the cloud to look softer. I think if I were to do the project again I would plan something more intricate and creative and not so simple. Originally I planned to have two clouds on my tile but soon after I began scultping I realized there was not enough space for two. My sketch also made the mountains look more dimensional because of the shading and the clouds were more round. The mini tile project helped me get a good idea of how to use relief with clay and gain basic skills with clay tools. One downside of the mini tile project, which was my fault, was that I did not think of how relief can be created outside of a flat clay tile. The cardboard project showed me relief can be created through other mediums rather than just with clay. Throughout this project I had to overcome building up objects without losing the shape of what I was trying to create. Since my peice was so simple I had to really focus on perfecting the simple shapes. My battle with having such a simple piece worked out for me in the end because I recieved many compliments.